Cost of spraying

[Wigeon]

I reckon the best fixed cost structure for "medium" sized arable farms is to contract out anything soil engaging and combining to someone with much bigger kit than you could afford, then buy a big, over capacity, old sprayer and do that and liquid fert yourself. Works a treat, so long as you don't buy a rotter.

...opens can of worms.

 

[neilo]

I reckon the best fixed cost structure for "medium" sized arable farms is to contract out anything soil engaging and combining to someone with much bigger kit than you could afford, then buy a big, over capacity, old sprayer and do that and liquid fert yourself. Works a treat, so long as you don't buy a rotter.

...opens can of worms.

What constitutes a ‘medium sized’ arable Farm?

On the arable enterprise I only contract out combining and lime spreading now. I have an old, over capacity SP sprayer, where the depreciation is close to zero and the running costs are far lower than previous contractor’s bills. Timileness is obviously slightly better too, but contractors were pretty damn good on that score tbf.

Does my 70ac of cereals qualify me as a ‘medium sized’ Arable Farm? Very happy with the setup now, regardless.

 

[Wigeon]

What constitutes a ‘medium sized’ arable Farm?

.

No idea... but one where that structure is best!

 

[warksfarmer]

£1.83/acre if being honest with myself. That includes the sprayer, repairs, mot, expected residual value, insurance, nroso costs, tractor, fuel, insurance, repairs, depreciation, Labour etc .... everything. I don’t like the job but it’s far cheaper than contractors and we are a lot more timely and we do everything at 200l for water and up to 600l for fert.
Working out spraying costs are hard work as you can easily lull yourself into a false sense of security.

 

[Clive]

trouble with costing labour for an operation is how you do it

spot labour costs are pretty low but start to factor in the cost of that labour when not on the field and when on training courses or sweeping a yard waiting for weather etc and the cost soon escalates

I cost labour as total annual payroll divided by acres farmed and contracted to get the true number

 

[Spud]

£1.83/acre if being honest with myself. That includes the sprayer, repairs, mot, expected residual value, insurance, nroso costs, tractor, fuel, insurance, repairs, depreciation, Labour etc .... everything. I don’t like the job but it’s far cheaper than contractors and we are a lot more timely and we do everything at 200l for water and up to 600l for fert.
Working out spraying costs are hard work as you can easily lull yourself into a false sense of security.

Those costs are impressively low Lee, mine are 50%+ higher than that.

 

[Clive]

Those costs are impressively low Lee, mine are 50%+ higher than that.

I think how you cost the tractor and labour could make a BIG difference to thoise numbers


Only way IMO is total tractor costs / acres farmed and total labour cost / acres farmed as that is the true cost to the business and not spot rates for either


Historically there has been less than 50% of the hours put on our sprayer than are on the drivers timesheet each year

If you're doing the job yourself then I guess that doesn't matter or get costed the same by most through

 

[Spud]

I think how you cost the tractor and labour could make a BIG difference to thoise numbers


Only way IMO is total tractor costs / acres farmed and total labour cost / acres farmed as that is the true cost to the business and not spot rates for either


Historically there has been less than 50% of the hours put on our sprayer than are on the drivers timesheet each year

If you're doing the job yourself then I guess that doesn't matter or get costed the same by most through

That's a bit broad brush though isn't it? Our sprayer tractor computer records hours and fuel to each job. I drive the thing, and allocate an hour in ten for my time doing sprayer stuff when the tractor is stopped. (what's your man doing??) Nrosa etc calcuable, as is insurance, repairs and depreciation. It's not for nowt.

 

[Clive]

That's a bit broad brush though isn't it? Our sprayer tractor computer records hours and fuel to each job. I drive the thing, and allocate an hour in ten for my time doing sprayer stuff when the tractor is stopped. (what's your man doing??) Nrosa etc calcuable, as is insurance, repairs and depreciation. It's not for nowt.

I calculate all my costs based on what I spend annually divided by acres farmed and contracted - that's the true cost (ie the cheques I have to write plus estimated depreciation )

That gives me a true hourly tractor or operator costs that I can use when working out the cost of any operation like spraying


everyone does it different though I guess is the conclusion we always come to when such diccsuins are had on TFF. My point being that its pointless posting costs or trying to compare them if they are worked out differently by different farms

 

[warksfarmer]

Those costs are impressively low Lee, mine are 50%+ higher than that.

That’s accounting for everything including salaried labour and not spot cost labour. The only spot rate calculation is fuel which is 0.52l/acre using the average work done per hour not the spot rate. So we can spot rate at 60ac/hour but the reality when accounting for travelling, filling, can washing etc is 25ac/hour.

The reason it’s so low is we’ve gone down the route of a used sprayer and used tractor so purchase costs are much much lower. Then loaded up the repair cost more than for new equipment but it’s still far cheaper. Buying new just doesn’t stack up for anything other than a telescopic in my eyes as that’s doing the most hours as it’s used everyday virtually.

 

[Spud]

I calculate all my costs based on what I spend annually divided by acres farmed and contracted - that's the true cost (ie the cheques I have to write plus estimated depreciation )

That gives me a true hourly tractor or operator costs that I can use when working out the cost of any operation like spraying


everyone does it different though I guess is the conclusion we always come to when such diccsuins are had on TFF. My point being that its pointless posting costs or trying to compare them if they are worked out differently by different farms

How do you account for costs you don't necessarily write a cheque for though, like depreciation?

 

[Spud]

That’s accounting for everything including salaried labour and not spot cost labour. The only spot rate calculation is fuel which is 0.52l/acre using the average work done per hour not the spot rate. So we can spot rate at 60ac/hour but the reality when accounting for travelling, filling, can washing etc is 25ac/hour.

The reason it’s so low is we’ve gone down the route of a used sprayer and used tractor so purchase costs are much much lower. Then loaded up the repair cost more than for new equipment but it’s still far cheaper. Buying new just doesn’t stack up for anything other than a telescopic in my eyes as that’s doing the most hours as it’s used everyday virtually.

Do your costs include depreciation?

 

[Clive]

How do you account for costs you don't necessarily write a cheque for though, like depreciation?

depreciation is estimated based on likely sale value at disposal - I straight line the difference / years we plan to run the machine for and added into my calculations re total cost to run that machine

It's always the most uncertain cost though until the day you sell in the future

 

[warksfarmer]

Do your costs include depreciation?

Of course. Even if I depreciated the sprayer to zero over it’s life it would only add about 50p/a really at a guess. Trailed sprayers are relatively simple so buying used is a safe bet.

 

[Cowcorn]

I calculate all my costs based on what I spend annually divided by acres farmed and contracted - that's the true cost (ie the cheques I have to write plus estimated depreciation )

That gives me a true hourly tractor or operator costs that I can use when working out the cost of any operation like spraying


everyone does it different though I guess is the conclusion we always come to when such diccsuins are had on TFF. My point being that its pointless posting costs or trying to compare them if they are worked out differently by different farms

That to be honest, has to be the most accaurate way of costing operations on an all Arable farm. I must try and divorce the Arable operations from the dairy to find out what my operations are really costing ,and maybe stop pretending that the crops dont really cost much its all that bloody slurry that wears out the tractors and burns all the diesel !!!!

 

[holywell farmer]

depreciation is estimated based on likely sale value at disposal - I straight line the difference / years we plan to run the machine for and added into my calculations re total cost to run that machine

It's always the most uncertain cost though until the day you sell in the future

Clive out of interest do chemical prices vary much ?

 

[Clive]

Clive out of interest do chemical prices vary much ?

Massively yes !

 

[holywell farmer]

Massively yes !

Do go on price or what the agronomist says

 

[Clive]

Do go on price or what the agronomist says

Price ! My agronomist is not a salesman

How mad would that be ! ...... <clive lights blue touch paper and closes lid on laptop !>

 

[Shutesy]

Clive out of interest do chemical prices vary much ?

Go and look on the chemical price tracker and the prices on TFF Marketplace as a starting place for a comparison between different agro chems!